Week 5: Advising and Support Network

Issue #5

Advising and Support Network

All Oberlin students have access to a personalized support network. This network includes your advisors and peer mentors who will support you both inside and outside the classroom. You will also have access to the full breadth of student support resources available to all Oberlin students. You’ll continue to learn about these resources throughout the summer and once you arrive on campus. 

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Your Academic Advisor 

New Obies are assigned academic advisings they'll meet with during New Student Orientation. This person will become one of your most important resources while navigating Oberlin. All academic advisors are faculty or staff members invested in holistically supporting you. In the conservatory, your studio teacher is often, although not always, your advisor. In the Arts & Sciences, your first academic advisor is a pre-major advisor separate from your summer advisor.

You will meet with your academic advisor during New Student Orientation. At this meeting, you will discuss your course schedule, review your goals for the first semester, and plan ahead for other opportunities that Oberlin offers. You will continue to meet with your academic advisor throughout your first semester to discuss academic pathways and strategies for success. In addition to supporting you academically, your advisor can help connect you with campus resources, student organizations, and other faculty members whose courses you may be interested in taking.

‌Your Peer Advising Leader (PAL)

At Oberlin, we like to say that every new student has a PAL. PALs are upper-class students trained to help you successfully navigate academic and experiential learning opportunities during your first semester and beyond. PAL uses a cohort-based model to support your transition to Oberlin. In the Arts & Sciences, each cohort shares a class through the First-Year Seminar Program; in the Conservatory, cohorts include students from across all performance areas and disciplines to ensure that you have strong social connections inside and outside your studio.

Throughout New Student Orientation, your PAL will help you prepare to meet your academic advisor and finalize your course schedule, guide you through a daylong trip into Cleveland, provide resources for a successful first semester, and more. For Arts & Sciences students, the PAL experience continues into the fall semester through the credit-bearing course “LEAD 050: Introduction to Oberlin Life and Learning.” 

‌Your Success Coach

As with academic advising, every new Obie is also assigned a Success Coach. Success Coaches are trained and certified professional staff members who work alongside students to cultivate a sense of belonging, define individual success, and create success plans for each semester. Success Coaching is an empowering process that helps you identify opportunities for enhancing your Oberlin experience while also planning for potential stressors to your educational success. Success plans are individualized to you and cover a range of academic, personal, and professional goals.

Success Coaching and the Center for Student Success (CSS), and, more broadly, provide all Obies with comprehensive support designed to serve as a bridge between academic and student life. Our goal is to serve as your central hub of support on campus and maximize your time at Oberlin through coaching, workshops, co-curricular credit-bearing courses, and leadership programs.

Success Coaches assist students with:

1. Social Integration

2. Transitional Stressors

3. Community Building

4. Resiliency

5. Time Management

6. Goal Setting

7. Study Skills

8. Self-Care

9. College Resources

Success Coaches are available to assist you as early as June, and you will have the opportunity to meet your Success Coach during virtual sessions in July and in person during Welcome Week.

Schedule your appointment ahead of the fall rush by emailing css@oberlin.edu.

‌Your Resident Assistant

Your residential community at Oberlin will be an important part of your first-year experience. Whether you choose to live in a First-Year Residential Experience community, an identity-based community, a language house, a themed space, or traditional housing, you will have a Resident Assistant (RA) who is committed to helping you feel supported and welcomed. 

All RAs are fellow students who serve as leaders and community-builders in their residential communities. Throughout the year, your RA will help you navigate important processes like creating roommate agreements, host events to help you get to know your fellow residents, and serve as a general resource for any questions you may have.